Happy Monday peeps! I’ve got another installment of the “Senior Chronicles” ready for you, choked full of advice from industry professionals. Today’s question: should I put my social networks on my résumé? More specifically, which should you add, because let’s face it, they are going to check anyway. I didn’t feel qualified to answer this question, so I decided to reach out to some seriously talented and experienced ladies in the PR and social media fields to help me out. The question I asked them was simple, “should entry-level PR pros and interns add social media profiles to their resumes? If so, how?” The answers were anything but simple: they were helpful, loaded with great advice and great to read…check it out:
Tressa Robbins, an awesome Missouri-based VP (and all around Goddess of help for us young careerists) had this to say, I’d say, yes, it’s okay to include your social media information on your resume – assuming you’ve already done a “scrub” and ensured your social media profile / page(s) are professionally appropriate. I would stick mostly to your LinkedIn profile, Twitter (assuming your feed is somehow PR-related)…Think: is it appropriate for my grandmother to view/read? Tressa even included a super helpful graphic:
Deirdre Breakenridge, not only runs her own company but she’s also the co-creator of the wildly popular #prstudchat (check it out. Seriously) and she gave some practical advice and some good ideas of how to use social networks to your advantage:
Today, professionals need to take a good look at all of their social media profiles and how they portray their social brands. It’s important to remember that “what happens on Facebook doesn’t stay on Facebook.” Who you are online caries forward into the first interview. Compiling social profiles in a way that expresses individuality, unique personality and enthusiasm is a great way to make one applicant stand out over another in the eyes of a potential employer. I’ve seen students create interactive resumes with their social information, as well as About.me portfolios. These types of interactive resumes give an interviewer a good solid look at job seeker’s personal brand; what he or she stands for as a young professional.
My next expert is Lindsay Olson, a top-notch staffing expert…so you know she’s seen her fair share of resumes! She had this to say:
Yes, entry-level PR pros should include their relevant social media profiles. Most employers are going to look for them at some point anyway. Entry-level PR pros should take some time to make sure their profiles show relevant information. Industry related tweets, blog posts, Facebook group memberships can all give an employer some insight into the candidate’s level of engagement in the industry. It also give the candidate an opportunity to showcase some of their knowledge. A good tool to integrate all the of social media profiles and save the valuable space on your resume by not listing every single social media profile is an About.me profile where you can add all of your social media profiles in one page for employers to quickly find you and then only list your about.me address on your resume. It should be included with your name, phone number, email, then social media profiles.
Imelda Dulcich, a Seattle-based PR pro and a real friend and mentor of mine, had so much amazing insight into this topic and included a great graphic:
With a background in Public Relations, you already know that everything you send out should be targeted to your reader (or audience). Before sending your resume for a job position, do some research on the company. Are they likely to appreciate your Social Media savvy?
If so, use a heading such as the one I use above – a PDF resume that allows the prospective client or employer click on each of your platforms. One caveat: consider each social media platform and determine whether it reflects the image you want to convey. You can add or subtract platforms based on the job. Using About Me (the personal page all about you) in your footer is a simplified way to share your social media information without oversaturating the look of your resume. An extra step I take is putting a WiseStamp in my email signature, which allows others to see and join my platforms. Here’s a screen shot from my email page.
The last expert I asked is someone I really look up to, Shonali Burke of Waxing Unlyrical, a former VP who now runs her own consultancy:
I think this depends on the position. If you’re applying for an entry-level position where you know social media is going to be a large part of what you are expected to work on, certainly. But is your blog on mountain-climbing really going to be relevant to interning at a lawyer’s office? (Maybe yes, all the lawyers are mountain climbers and that will help you get hired! But you see what I mean). If it is relevant to the job you hope to do, include it. If not, but you’re proud of it, I’d consider including it in an “other interests” or “extra-curricular” section.
Jess AsPRing 